Begins and Ends with Pride

1 Nephi 11:36

And it came to pass that I saw and bear record, that the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and the fall thereof was exceedingly great. And the angel of the Lord spake unto me again, saying: Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

At the very outset of the establishment of the Nephite people, the first prophet warned them of pride. In Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life, the faithful seekers of the precious fruit of eternal life were not captured unawares by the great and spacious building of pride. They sought it out. They dropped the fruit and went to the building of their own volition. 

Lehi knew a thousand years before the fact that pride would be the downfall of his people. Warnings against pride would become a major theme of the Book of Mormon. Lehi prophesied of the effects of pride, and Mormon witnessed firsthand the fulfillment of Lehi's prophecy. The story of the Nephites begins with pride and ends with it.

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